Bishounen Shop
by Kinestra
Summary: Keara and her friend Nug, begin a business renting Bishounen and mischeif ensues as the evil bishounen start to take over and try to ruin the shop!
1. Default Chapter

Hey there. Just so you all know…which you prob do already…but I don't own any of the characters in here…except for the original ones. (Original=- Soku, Teru, Kashi, Doraku and of course Keara and Nug.)   
  
This was just one of those things…ya know? It started late one night after a long day of snow sports…and it has become this. I hope you enjoy. ^^   
  
  
  
In a happy little snow village called Yar in upstate West Virginia sat an equally happy little shop. The owners of the shop were two young women with a revolutionary new idea. The idea was apparently attracting the attention of many tourists and natives alike, especially fellow young women.   
  
Keara yawned widely, "I hate waking up early…maybe we should open later in the day…"   
  
"Mmm…" Nug simply made a sound in reply.   
  
A random customer, a girl roughly the age of 20 wandered curiously into the store and glanced around looking a bit bewildered.   
  
"Hello!" Keara attempted to sound awake and cheerful. "Can I help you with anything today?"   
  
Nug raised an eyebrow and took another sip of coffee, better known as Nug Fuel.   
  
"Umm…" the girl fidgeted with her long blonde hair. "Why is this one so much more than the other?"   
  
Keara blinked, "Which other?"   
  
The girl indicated a tall blue haired man in a long white coat sitting on a shelf with a label under him, which read 'Legato Bluesummers'.   
  
Nug laughed, "He bites." Then returned to her coffee.   
  
"I do not!" Legato protested.   
  
The blonde girl jumped and stared at Legato in fear, "They talk?"   
  
"Of course we talk," a voice came from nearby. It came from a rather feminine looking man sitting in front of the window with long silver hair and…a skirt?   
  
"Is this legal??" The blonde's eyes looked like large dinner plates.   
  
"I don't see why not," Nug shrugged. "They're just bishounen. We get new model shipments every once in awhile."   
  
Silence. Then:   
  
"That's a creepy thought," yet another new voice joined the exchange.   
  
"Hush you, Teru," Keara waved a finger at another blue haired man, this one in a dark gray trench coat.   
  
Teru rolled his eyes, "I feel like I'm in a zoo…"   
  
Maniacal giggling came from the Nug as she poured herself more coffee.   
  
"I must say I agree with him," the silver haired bishounen spoke up again. "Honestly, if you look out the window at all the people crowding around."   
  
Legato smiled slyly, "Well, since you are the window display, it would make sense."   
  
In the midst of all this babble the blonde girl had wandered off to look at other bishounen models. She came upon a younger looking man with short light pink hair and a forlorn expression.   
  
"Please, help me," He whimpered. "You have to get me out of here!"   
  
Even through all the freakiness of before, the girl's heart went out to this poor stranded young man. Without thinking about it she glanced down at the shelf tag, which read 'Kashi Rikou-original by Nug'.   
  
"I can't believe you're going to let some newb take my spot!" Legato glared at Keara.   
  
"But we have to put him somewhere! He has wings so he needs lots of shelf space!" Keara argued back. "Maybe if you behave we'll stick you next to Kuja when he's off special next week."   
  
Kuja, still lazing in the window, rolled his eyes, and then smiled at a passing couple.   
  
"I can't believe we have to argue with our end-caps," Keara sighed.   
  
"Can I have this one?" The blonde customer interjected. "He seems nice."   
  
Nug, now full of fuel, bounded over to the counter, "Sure, you just need to fill out some paperwork for the rental and you can be on your way."   
  
  
  
During a slow point in the day Keara and Nug began to look over the paperwork that they had accumulated since opening the shop. Out of sheer boredom Nug began to sort the papers by bishounen.   
  
"You know…" Nug compared one large stack to the others. "Kashi gets rented more than any other bishies here."   
  
Legato rolled his eyes, "That's because he cheats."   
  
"Kashi doesn't cheat!" Teru growled.   
  
At this point Kuja would have made a comment, but he was off with a young girl from Virginia who had wanted a dance partner at the nightclub she was going to that evening.   
  
"Well…there may be something to what Legato is saying," Keara regarded the stack of forms. "Maybe we should move him so we can keep him under surveillance."   
  
"Under video surveillance, I say," a voice from behind them commented.   
  
Nug looked up from her sorting, "Soku, I thought you were in the back taking a break."   
  
Soku, an older bishounen with short black hair and sparkling green eyes sauntered out of the bishounen break room and meandered over to the rental counter.   
  
Legato gave Soku an incredulous look, "I suppose you want to volunteer for this?"   
  
"No!" Teru stood up sharply, banging his head on the shelf above his, cursing under his breath at his stupidity. Rubbing the top of his head Teru continued. "I know what you're up to. You just want to be able to…er…"   
  
"Do exactly what we're doing?" Keara raised an eyebrow.   
  
Nug began laughing for apparently no reason, "Did you see this?"   
  
Keara peered over the counter to see what slip Nug was giggling at, "Someone rented Kuja, huh?"   
  
"You didn't know?" Legato seemed surprised.   
  
"I think she was on lunch at the time," Nug offered. "But look, I forgot about this. She got some black leather pants of the shiny variety and she also got him a blue sequined top to go with them!"   
  
Laughter rippled through the group but was interrupted by an indignant voice, "Who took my clothes?!"   
  
A bishounen with wispy purple hair and red eyes stormed out of the storeroom waving his red glasses in Nug and Keara's direction.   
  
"I don't recall them ever being specifically yours, Doraku," Keara crossed her arms. "Besides, they were fitted for Kuja's form, there's no way they could be yours. Maybe you lost them when you took them out for a test run.   
  
Keara got a strange look from Legato, "Why would be lose his clothes?"   
  
"Go put some damn clothes on!" Teru growled. "You're being indecent and a customer could come in at any time!"   
  
The bell above the door chimed merrily and a young male entered looking pretty confident about his choice of coming into the Bishounen rental.   
  
Teru was busy trying to shove Doraku back into the storeroom while Nug tried to distract the boy from seeing anything they could get sued for.   
  
"What may I help you with today?" Nug asked with a big smile, waving her hands to get the young man's attention.   
  
The effort was, however, in vain as he simply stared at Doraku being pushed forcibly back into the storeroom.   
  
"I'll take that one," the boy ran a hand through some of his short cut black hair and smiled slightly. "He seems pretty spirited."   
  
Keara and Nug exchanged glances then simultaneously looked back at the casually dressed male. "Ok, but let's get your paperwork done while he gets dressed, it is a bit cold outside today."   
  
Teru made a distinctive flat-eyes expression and stopped trying to push Doraku around. Legato looked the customer over carefully as if there was something wrong with the boy. His mouth formed a small smile at the corner of his mouth; maybe it was time to perform a questionnaire.   
  
"So," Legato sidled up next to the boy as he was filling out his rental information. "What do you plan on using our dear Doraku for?"   
  
The customer, Seichi, (as Legato discovered) looked up at Legato calmly, then smiled. "He's going to keep me company this evening, and I'll return him in the morning."   
  
Teru's interest piqued and he stretched a little so he could peer around the looming Legato to see Seichi's reactions to his questions.   
  
Keara and Nug remained silent, knowing better than to interrupt his mini inquisitions. They pretended to be over-occupied with a stack of old rental receipts while they actually listened in on the freshly appeared entertainment.   
  
Soku yawned and leaned against a wall while taking in the spectacle of the shop and it's inhabitants. Doraku had long since smugly wandered back to find some provocative clothing to wear.   
  
"You're only keeping him for one night?" Legato's eyebrows raised in what everyone else but Seichi knew was fake surprise. "With a body like his? Come now, if you knew what he could do you'd come running back to keep him longer."   
  
For the first time since entering the shop the boy looked nervous and unsure of what he was getting himself into. Legato noticed this weakness and decided this would be the prime opportunity to exercise his persuasion tactics. The girls decided to tactfully turn a blind eye to Legato's preying and tried to look busy straightening their papers.   
  
"This would be a good opportunity to rent out two of us so that our full potential can be realized for your benefit," Legato smiled predatorily and leaned on the counter. "That way if you get tired you can just watch."   
  
A little bell dinged in Keara's head and she stood up to stare at Legato, who winked at her as Seichi stared at his rental form in contemplation.   
  
"I'm not sure if I really want to go that far…" Seichi cut himself off with a nervous cough.   
  
Legato's expression changed to one that appeared encouraging, "You are the one to make the decision. I must say you looked very confident upon your entering this little shop. I trust you'll make a choice that you are happy with."   
  
Nug coughed and looked up at Keara from the coffee cup that had somehow materialized in her hands. Keara nodded back then motioned for Legato to lean towards her so she could impart some knowledge to her bishounen.   
  
"Legato," she whispered so the customer wouldn't hear. "This is not a whore house. We're not supposed to be renting you out to have intimate relations with people. At least, if that's what people want, let's do it covertly so we don't get shut down for prostitution."   
  
In response Legato raised an inquisitive eyebrow, then shrugged and turned back to Seichi, "Well, Doraku should be ready by now, I'll go back and retrieve him."   
  
With that he ambled into the back room carefully pushing the beaded curtain out of his way before ducking through the doorway. Soku coughed and smiled into his hand then looked up at Keara with an expression showing that he knew what Legato was up to.   
  
Nug looked up when she heard the silence, peered over at their new customer, then turned her attention on Keara and Soku who were staring at each other. Of course she knew what that meant; it meant they were talking by way of Soku's mind speaking powers, which was the only way non-magic inclined Keara could mind talk with their bishounen.   
  
She waved her hand a little to catch Soku's attention then got his eye contact so that he knew she wanted to be included.   
  
/Sorry, love./ Soku smiled. /We were just saying how Legato is trying to get himself rented for the evening./   
  
/I think it's pretty amusing/ Keara's mind voice had a smile to it. /He apparently doesn't care how he goes about doing it either./   
  
Nug grinned, /To him the end justifies the means./   
  
"That it does," Legato said out loud as he reentered the main shop area, causing Seichi to jump. "Sorry about that, I was just finishing a conversation with Doraku. He's coming right now."   
  
On cue Doraku swept out of the back room and sashayed over to the counter clad in a black suit with red pinstripes all topped with a long black leather coat with a satin red interior.   
  
The customer was bewildered by the sight, which caused Keara and Nug to grin stupidly at each other. A satisfied customer was always a good thing for them. "Ok…" Seichi scratched his head and looked nervously at Legato. "I think I'll be fine with just Doraku."   
  
Legato smiled and nodded, "That's perfectly fine if that's your choice."   
  
Doraku gave Legato a condescending smile, "And that's how you get chosen."   
  
Seichi coughed, "Well, let's get going then. I have dinner reservations that are waiting on us."   
  
"That was odd," Nug squinted after the pair that had just exited out the etched glass door.   
  
"People are strange," Keara shrugged.   
  
"No…" Nug's brow furrowed in thought. "He looked kinda familiar."   
  
Legato glared at the door, "Next time I see him he's going to be a miserable pile of pain."   
  
Soku laughed out loud, "Oh come now, Legato. You can't let a little competition get to you."   
  
Keara stretched, "Come on Nuggy. We got that shipment of Demo bishies that we've only glanced over that need to come out here on the floor."   
  
"Okie…" Nug gulped the rest of her coffee and followed Keara to the loading bay behind the storeroom.   
  
The backroom had a few large boxes piled up at the loading bay, which the girl approached casually and began searching for their packing list.   
  
After a few minutes of fervent searching they found the packing list on a pile of Doraku's clothing.   
  
Nug blinked, "I guess he wanted some reading material while he was getting dressed."   
  
"Or he was harassing our new bishies," Keara examined the list. "Alright Nuggy, I'm gonna read off the box numbers. They should all be Demo…" She squinted in the dim light.   
  
"Yeah," Nug looked over the large cardboard containers. "You can just read the number after DEM."   
  
Keara nodded and readied her sparkly blue pen for checking off product numbers, "Ok, here we go… 1905."   
  
"Err…" Nug thought for a second. "Check?"   
  
"Bueno," Keara marked off her first number. "1109"   
  
"Che…hold on…" Nug moved a shirt off one of the boxes. "Check."   
  
"2015"   
  
"Right here."   
  
"1909"   
  
Silence.   
  
"Nug? 1909?"   
  
"I'm not seeing it."   
  
Keara wandered over to where Nug was standing and they looked around for a few moments. There were three bishy boxes, boxes of their clothing and accessories…but the last bishy box was nowhere to be seen.   
  
"I guess they forgot to ship it…" Nug shrugged.   
  
Without warning a thunderous bang came from the next room and they hurried back out to the store to see who Legato had attempted murder on this time.   
  
"What did you do now Legato?" Keara exclaimed as she rushed in.   
  
She stopped suddenly, so suddenly in fact that Nug ran into her from behind with a sound of surprise.   
  
Legato and Soku looked over at the girls for a moment then turned their attention back to the radio show they were engrossed in.   
  
Nug peeked around Keara. "What are you two doing?"   
  
"Listening to the radio, what else?" Legato replied without looking at them. "Now shut up so I can hear what's going on."   
  
Keara rolled her eyes and meandered over to the counter to join the bishounen listening to the radio show. Nug blinked, looked back into the stock room, then back at Keara who was now staring intently at the radio, apparently listening.   
  
With a shrug Nug joined the group giving up on trying to get Keara to focus on anything work related.   
  
"Hitchhikers!" Keara exclaimed suddenly, making everyone except Legato jump.   
  
"Are you trying to kill me?" Teru stood up and glared at Keara.   
  
"It is!" Nug pointed to the radio. "I didn't know they even still played that."   
  
Legato glared at Keara who found that she now lacked the ability to speak.   
  
"We must interrupt your regular programming for this important news bulletin!"   
  
Nug managed to pull the radio from imminent danger when the news flash caused Legato to jump and automatically turn his destructive powers on it.   
  
Teru's eyes went wide with he saw the size of the hole in the wall. "Who needs to worry about him biting when he can do that?!"   
  
The radio had captured Nug's attention being the news-absorbing Nug she was.   
  
"If you have any information on the perpetrator or the incident, please contact your local authorities."   
  
"What was that?" Legato addressed Nug. "I missed the announcement because of some idiot's babbling."   
  
Keara glared at Legato and tried to mumble something rude, but that, of course, was futile.   
  
Soku attempted to help Keara speak again while Legato listened to Nug ramble off every fact she had gotten out of the short announcement.   
  
"A robbery, is it?" Soku raised his eyebrows in interest. "At a major bank, nonetheless. I wonder what made him so bold?"   
  
Teru peaked his fingers under his chin, "He must have had a very powerful alibi."   
  
"Mm mph mm…mn…" Keara tried to say. Giving that up she pointed at the TV mounted to the wall.   
  
"Good idea!" Nug reached for the remote control. "We can watch a news broadcast for more info."   
  
Legato sighed, "Alright…I'll let you talk again." Keara sagged with relief. "But if you interrupt anything again I'll make you rip your own throat out."   
  
As Keara was having her mouth regained the bell above the door jingled and Seichi wandered into the store. Also at this same moment Nug turned the TV onto CNN and a news broadcast about the bank robbery just happened to be playing.   
  
"Hey, Seichi!" Teru waved in greeting. "Back so soon?"   
  
Legato's attention was turned from the TV the moment they were about to show a picture of the bank robber and he smiled slyly at Seichi.   
  
"Back for more are you?"   
  
Seichi looked nervous all of a sudden and he started backing towards the door, "Sorry, I must have walked into the wrong place…I meant to go…"   
  
"Hey! He looks familiar!" Nug exclaimed staring at the TV screen.   
  
Soku stepped behind Seichi, blocking his exit by way of the front door and grinned evilly when Seichi noticed his blocked escape.   
  
Legato sauntered over to the now obviously frightened Seichi and an unsettling smirk sneaked across his face. "So what were you trying to pull off, Seichi? Did you think we would fall into some kind of plot of yours?"   
  
Soku laughed, "Apparently the little brat has underestimated us."   
  
"No, I did."   
  
"What?" Soku turned and saw Doraku standing behind him looking very irritated. "You're behind this?"   
  
Keara blinked in confusion and tapped the Nug on the shoulder to get her attention as she was still wrapped up in watching the news. Nug looked behind her and blinked in confusion as well.   
  
"What the hell is going on here?" Teru crossed his arms and glared at Doraku as he made his way to the counter.   
  
Doraku sighed and pushed his way past Soku, the still frightened Seichi and the stoic Legato. "I was just trying to rack up some rent points. I found this little guy passed out in one of your bishounen boxes back there."   
  
Nug's eyes widened, "That's why that box was missing."   
  
"It's not missing," Doraku pointed out. "I folded it up and put it in a corner."   
  
"Ah…I guess our shipping company isn't lazy after all…" Keara nodded.   
  
"How did you wake him up?" Teru inquired. "When the bishounen are shipped they are put to sleep for several hours."   
  
Doraku shrugged, "I'm an alchemist to some degree and it wasn't hard to determine what chemicals were used. Very easy to counter its effects."   
  
Soku seemed surprised, "What did you use? I've tried many different techniques to try and wake them up and I've not yet succeeded."   
  
"Well, I originally wanted to use-"   
  
"NO!" Nug interrupted. "I'm not in school, I don't want to hear chemistry stuff! Because chemistry is a science, and it uses math, and math is EVIL!"   
  
Legato glared at Nug which quickly silenced her protests. Keara looked at her sympathetically and patted her head. Nug sighed and waved her hand signaling that Doraku could continue.   
  
"So what did you use?" Soku asked again. "I'm not really interested in what you were going to use."   
  
"Whatever you want," Doraku shrugged. "I simply used a concoction of sugar and caffeine and injected it directly into the bloodstream."   
  
Seichi twitched.   
  
"That would explain the nervousness," Legato nodded putting more pieces of the puzzle together. "Then you told him to rob the bank so he could afford to rent you."   
  
"Yes," Teru interjected. "But what is Seichi getting out of this? He wouldn't have just gone and robbed a major bank without some kind of compensation."   
  
"Ah that," Doraku smiled slyly. "Well you see-"   
  
"I have a crush on him," Seichi spoke up suddenly. "I've heard about him ever since I was created at the-"   
  
"No revealing company information!" Keara scolded. "First rule of being a bishounen."   
  
Legato silenced Keara who got a sympathetic look from the Nug and a pat on the head. Doraku was staring at Seichi with more than a little surprise.   
  
"Hey, I thought you were doing it because you didn't want to just be some little item people could buy and make do whatever they wanted."   
  
Seichi sighed, "That's true too…but…"   
  
Keara and Nug randomly began to fervently search for something. Being that they are prone to looking for random things, no one paid attention to them until Nug held up a piece of parchment with official looking writing on it.   
  
Teru blinked and took the document from Nug then looked it over with increasing interest.   
  
Doraku peered over Teru's shoulder in curiosity and blinked in surprise at what he found there. This, of course, piqued Legato's interest who mentally snatched the paper from Teru's fingers and levitated it into his own hands.   
  
"Rights and Rules for Rented Bishounen?"   
  
Nug and Keara nodded smiling proudly.   
  
"According to that," Teru spoke up, directing his speech at the people who hadn't read the paper yet. "The bishounen that are rented are able to refuse any act that they deem to be unreasonable."   
  
"There's other stuff there, but that's not important right now," Doraku waved a hand dismissively.   
  
Seichi blinked, "So…I can't get in trouble for robbing the bank?"   
  
Legato glanced at Keara.   
  
"No, you are responsible," Keara finally got to put her two cents in. "You're going to get sent back because under regulation-"   
  
"Which is what we were trying to show you," Nug interjected.   
  
"You are a defective bishy," Keara finished.   
  
The room fell mysteriously silent and everyone simply stared between Seichi and the two girls. The extension of silence made it even more startling when the doorbell jingled as a police officer entered the shop.   
  
Most of the bishounen casually wandered to the back room, leaving Seichi and Doraku with Keara and Nug.   
  
Nug smiled as if nothing had happened, "How can we help you, officer?"   
  
The officer smiled pleasantly, "I just came by to see how your escort service is going along. Well I hope?"   
  
Keara nodded fervently, "Oh yes. We've been doing quite well."   
  
Seichi smiled weakly when the police officer nodded a greeting in his direction. Doraku nodded in return and gently shoved Seichi in the direction of the back room.   
  
"I have to be going along now," the officer started towards the door. "I would appreciate it, however, if you would return the money your one boy stole, and return him to where he came from."   
  
With that the random police officer exited the bishounen shop and went on his merry way down the darkening street.   
  
"Yes…well…" Keara looked around the shop uncertain of what to do.   
  
"I guess it's about time for us to close…and do some out-of-the-shop business…like returning that money Seichi stole."   
  
Doraku grabbed Seichi by the collar before he could entirely retreat to the back room. "And where do you think you're going?"   
  
"Uh…to pack?" Seichi smiled hopefully.   
  
Doraku shook his head.   
  
  
  
"How long have they been in there?" Keara looked at her watch and yawned. "It's too early to have to be waiting on silly bishounen."   
  
Nug nodded and sipped her Nug fuel.   
  
Seichi had returned the money, apologized to the bank manager and the employees, and given them coupons to the bishounen shop by way of paying them back for being so easy on him.   
  
Keara, on a random hunger spree, had decided to stop at Waffle House for a happy good-bye breakfast for Seichi then they had returned to the shop where Keara and Nug were now.   
  
Legato yawned, "When is that girl going to return Kuja?"   
  
"About 10…" Keara sighed and looked at her watch again. "All bishies must be returned by 10 the next morning when kept overnight."   
  
Nug nodded and sipped her coffee.   
  
Doraku and Seichi choose that moment to emerge from the closet and greet the small group waiting outside the door.   
  
"Are you done now?" Keara raised her eyebrows and looked back and forth between the two boys.   
  
"Yeah-" Seichi began.   
  
"Hold on a moment," Doraku interrupted Seichi then kissed him one last time. One last time meaning that it took at least two minutes before they were completely done kissing/touching each other.   
  
"Ok, in the box," Legato said with his usual emotionless voice and levitated the defective bishy into his box.   
  
Doraku handed Seichi a cup of liquid, which was his sedative for the trip back to the company headquarters.   
  
"We'll miss you, Seichi," Keara waved goodbye as Legato closed the flaps to the box and then taped it shut.   
  
"He should be unconscious by now," Doraku tapped the side of the box. "When does the shipment truck get here?"   
  
"Now," said a random voice from the other side of the truck bay door.   
  
Legato opened the door with his magical and ever so useful mental powers and the trucker guy took the box and heaved it into the back of the plush semi-truck.   
  
"Will he be ok?" Nug spoke up, now awake enough to actually manage speech. "It doesn't look like a very comfy way to travel."   
  
The trucker, who actually looked pretty handsome, shrugged, "He'll be unconscious the whole trip. Thanks for letting us know about him. We'll make sure the company tests them better before shipping them off to you."   
  
"That's cool," Keara nodded. "Well, see ya later."   
  
The doorbell jingled merrily as they were watching the truck drive away and the girls went to see what their customer wanted while Doraku and Legato made sure the truck made it safely out of their sight.   
  
"I can't believe those trucks come all the way up this mountain," Doraku commented.   
  
Legato shrugged then closed the heavy metal truck bay door and joined the girls in the shop. Doraku sighed and reluctantly followed, walking in on Keara excitedly telling Kuja all about the events of the day before.   
  
"You should get a security camera for back there," Kuja suggested, taking his spot in the display window.   
  
Keara and Nug exchanged glances, "That may not be a bad idea."   
  
  
  



	2. Bishounen Shop 2

"There!" Keara backed up and looked at her handiwork with happiness. "Now we won't have any more repeats of last week's problem."   
  
Nug nodded as she chugged the last of her coffee and set the mug down. "Let's just hope they don't start making a spectacle of themselves."   
  
Legato came out of the back room carrying a small TV monitor and handed it to Keara who placed it on the counter and hooked a few wires into the back.   
  
"Now, walk into the back- " Keara stopped and stared at the screen in shock. "Or never mind. I can see. . ."   
  
"Well," Nug cleared her throat. "At least we know the security camera works." Keara nodded eyes glued to the screen.   
  
"I'll go stop them," Legato stated and started on his way to the back room, but Keara grabbed the back of his coat.   
  
"Just wait a little bit longer."   
  
Kuja glanced over at the screen from his window spot and rolled his eyes, "Now what are they doing? You two are perverts."   
  
"Uh oh." Nug looked fearful. "Soku."   
  
Just then Soku interrupted Kashi and Teru who were the ones they had been watching and pointed up at the security camera. Keara shivered as it made her feel like he was pointing at HER.   
  
/I AM pointing at you/   
  
Keara jumped away from the TV putting a hand to her heart and tried to catch her breath. "I hate it when he does that!"   
  
Soku smiled up at the camera and the next instant he was out in the shop standing next to Legato. Teru and Kashi followed looking slightly embarrassed.   
  
"Anyway," Keara composed herself and pulled a sheet of paper off the counter. "We have noticed an unfair renting of Kashi and we think it has to do with him begging with customers."   
  
"Kashi!" Teru looked at the younger man in surprise. "I thought you were better than that! You should at least play fair."   
  
"So!" Nug interrupted. "Our Goal for the day is to get Legato rented."   
  
"What!" Teru's eyes nearly fell out of his head. "Are you mad? If you let him out into the world it will be in flames in less than 12 hours!"   
  
"Not if we send Kuja with him," Keara smiled knowingly.   
  
Legato smiled slightly, "Looks like I've been figured out."   
  
Kuja deserted his window spot to meander over and stand next to Legato, holding onto his seme's arm as he peered at the paper Keara was looking over.   
  
"So starting today we're having a super great deal on a double rent of Legato and Kuja." Keara sighed. "Hopefully someone will fall for it."   
  
"A super great deal?" Soku gave Keara a half-amused and half-disgusted look.   
  
Nug shrugged, "It's the advertising business. You have to use words and phrases like that to catch people's attention."   
  
Kuja gave Keara a sympathetic pat on the hand and started back towards the break room, motioning for Legato to follow him. Legato raised an eyebrow, but then smiled and started after Kuja.   
  
Teru rolled his eyes in disgust as Kuja and Legato disappeared into the back room. Kashi fidgeted and glanced around the store looking uncomfortable.   
  
Keara suddenly became aware of all the movement and took her attention off of her sale flyer. She immediately noticed the absence of her two bishounen and then she became aware of Teru and Kashi who were doing the best they could to only look in one direction.   
  
"Nug what's-"   
  
The Nug, like Teru, Kashi and Soku was staring in one direction, but it was the opposite direction they were staring. Curiosity overcoming her Keara looked behind her and her eyes fell upon the screen of the security monitor. She dropped the flyer in shock and simply stared.   
  
A moment later there was a cloth obstructing her view of the TV screen and Keara glared over at Soku who seemed proud of himself.   
  
"Why did you do that!"   
  
Keara again in shock noticed that it had been Nug who had shouted the objection before she could even get her mouth open.   
  
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for Keara to finish a fan-fic with Legato and Kuja, then you go and screw up her chance at inspiration for her story!"   
  
"Oh yeah…" Keara remembered the story and smiled with embarrassment. "I forgot about that…with the bishy shop and all…"   
  
"Then there was no harm done," Soku smirked at Nug as he crossed his arms.   
  
"Grr…" Nug growled to herself. "Just…go for a walk or something."   
  
Soku shrugged and made his way to the door and then waved good-bye as he walked out onto the street for a stroll in the morning snow.   
  
"Ok guys," Keara directed her attention to Teru and Kashi. "Show's over, get to your spots. I have to officially open the shop."   
  
"I like this starting later in the day idea," Nug smiled. "I can actually be functioning when the store opens now."   
  
"I just hope Soku doesn't go off and find a way to get revenge on us…" Keara mused to herself as she flipped the sign in the door from saying 'Bishies are sleeping: We're Closed' to 'Welcome in!'   
  
Teru and Kashi exchanged glances of worry.   
  
"We're not going to have to start a whole new investigation here are we?" Teru asked sounding a little fearful.   
  
"No," Nug reassured them. "See, Keara isn't writing a story, so we should be perfectly safe."   
  
"Hm?" Keara stopped scribbling on a sheet of paper.   
  
Nug sweat dropped. "At least I hope we're perfectly safe."   
  
  
  
"I am going to die of sheer boredom!" Nug wailed helplessly.   
  
Keara snapped awake at the sound of Nug's voice and sat up abruptly.   
  
"No business yet," Nug sighed and reached for her happy looking mug of coffee, which was the only thing that had kept her from falling asleep like Keara had. "I wish Doraku hadn't gone off on vacation…we could use him about now."   
  
"Yeah," Keara sighed. "But he missed his boat…can't blame him…"   
  
Teru and Kashi had long since dozed off leaning against each other sitting on a lavender sofa. Kuja was fanning himself lazily as he laid in the window display gazing out at the melting snow and the people passing by.   
  
Legato stretched and leaned back in a big comfy recliner the shop had recently acquired from an old theater prop store that had gone out of business. The reason for all the sudden random furniture was simple: the shelf idea was putting Keara and Nug on their bishounen's bad side so they had sough out a more comfortable way to set them about the store. So far it was a very successful idea.   
  
"Bored . . . so . . . bored." Keara leaned forward in her chair and let her head fall onto the counter. The resulting thump woke up Kashi who glanced around the shop sleepily.   
  
"Nothing yet?"   
  
"NO! Nothing!" Kuja answered sounding irritated.   
  
"Why don't you go on a break, Kuja?" Nug offered then took a sip of her afternoon Nug fuel; which was still coffee.   
  
Legato opened one eye and watched Kuja as he climbed down from his window cushion. When Kuja had gotten to the approximate middle of the room he found he could no longer move.   
  
"Legato!" Kuja glared at the 'sleeping' seme. "I'm not in the mood for your games."   
  
With one smooth movement Legato was up and out of the chair making his way to where Kuja was stuck in place. While at some point earlier in time this might have unsettled him a little bit, Kuja was now far too used to Legato's intimidating actions.   
  
"Please, Legato," Kuja softened his tone. "I really need to use the bathroom."   
  
"Alright, I'll let you go."   
  
However, as soon as he freed Kuja he brushed a hand across Kuja's cheek then leaned down to kiss Kuja lovingly before letting Kuja move on to the back room.   
  
Teru had a confused expression, "Why are you being so lovey dovey today?"   
  
"He does this every so often," Keara chimed in. "He cycles. One week he's irritable, the next evil, the next lovable. It's just the way he is."   
  
Nug nodded, "I like him this way."   
  
"Is that why the sale is this week?" Kashi spoke up. "You knew this was his calm week, so you had the sale put out because you knew he'd be easier to rent out this way."   
  
Legato shrugged and followed Kuja's path into the back room where he waited outside the bathroom door just out of earshot from the gathering in the shop.   
  
"Whatever happened to all those Demo bishies we got in last week?" Teru sat up as a method of trying to keep awake.   
  
"We had to send them all back," Nug sighed. "Unfortunately we got a tainted batch and they made us return them all because Seichi was defective."   
  
Kashi shivered, "It's so weird for you guys to talk about us in that way so casually."   
  
Just then the bell above the door rang merrily cutting off whatever either of the girls might have had to say in response.   
  
"What can I help you with?" Nug addressed the newcomer cheerfully.   
  
"Hello again, ladies," the neighborhood officer's Irish voice ran to greet their ears. "How are things today?"   
  
Words could not describe the disappointment that fell on Nug's face just then.   
  
"Just fine officer."   
  
Keara patted Nug's head sympathetically, "We're really slow today."   
  
Legato returned from the back room and took his place lounging in the recliner, waiting for Kuja to finish taking his break. He sighed heavily as if to emphasize just how slow they really were.   
  
"Ah," the officer nodded his head, which was covered in short orange-red hair. "Well that may be because of this one fellow I saw wandering about town today."   
  
Silence fell upon all gathered.   
  
Legato sat forward slightly, "And what did this fellow look like?"   
  
The officer closed one lucid green eye as he tried to recall a memory, "He was kinda tall, had short black hair. There was a predatory kind of look to him."   
  
"Damn you Soku!" Nug yelled randomly and she stood up. "I'm going to hunt that little bastard down!"   
  
"Woah," Keara's eyes went wide. "Violent Nug. You must have picked up Legato's bad mood when he went all nice this week."   
  
Nug's eyes narrowed, "I'm going out for a bit…I should be back before closing."   
  
"Please don't get hurt!" Kashi called after Nug as she grabbed her coat on her way out the door.   
  
Teru shook his head, "When she sets her mind on something…"   
  
The Irish officer laughed a little, "I hope I didn't stir up too much trouble. I guess I should be going before I do anymore damage." He tipped his hat as he left.   
  
Keara sighed heavily, "Now we have no Nug…"   
  
Legato leaned back in his chair and yawned, "I'm hungry. Do we have any ice cream?"   
  
"No," Kuja replied as he came out of the back room, and returned to his spot in the window. "I ate the last of it for breakfast."   
  
"For breakfast?" Teru gave Kuja an odd look.   
  
"Sure," Keara shrugged. "If you mix vanilla ice cream with the chocolate Carnation instant breakfast, it tastes really good."   
  
Kuja, irritated that he couldn't get comfortable again, left the window and shook his head, "No, I just ate the ice cream by itself."   
  
"Which ice cream?" Legato was suddenly interested.   
  
"The Tin Roof Sundae."   
  
Legato looked hurt, "You ate my ice cream?"   
  
Teru looked back and forth between Kuja and Legato then licked his lips nervously. "Here Kashi, let's just sit on this end of the couch . . . away from them."   
  
Kashi nodded, "Yes let's."   
  
Kuja was confused, "Why are you so upset about the ice cream? You can get more."   
  
"But you ate it without me." Legato moped. "We were supposed to eat it together."   
  
Keara cringed, "Ack! So out of character!"   
  
"That he is," Kuja regarded Legato suspiciously. "It's as if some strange plague has happened upon him. He's never this bad."   
  
"Hello?" A voice came from the door as the bell jingled. "Are you still open?"   
  
Keara quickly averted her worries from Legato and greeted the customer with a big smile, "Yes, we are! What can I help you with?"   
  
The girl blushed and moved some of her dark brown hair out of her eyes. "I...uh...saw your flyer outside on a lamppost and I thought I'd come see if it was still available."   
  
"Of course!" Keara began to pull out rental forms for the girl to fill out. "Legato and Kuja are right there-" she vaguely pointed in the direction of the chair Legato was sitting in.   
  
"Right where?" The girl sounded confused so Keara looked up.   
  
With a sigh Keara noted that Kuja and Legato were no longer by the chair they had been near not more than two seconds ago.   
  
"Here," Keara handed the girl the rental sheet. "Fill this out while I go get them out of the back room."   
  
While Keara was off gallivanting in the store room Teru and Kashi watched the girl with interest as she giggled to herself while she filled out the form.   
  
"Does she seem a bit odd to you?" Teru whispered to Kashi.   
  
Kashi nodded, "I'm glad she's not renting me. She's creepy."   
  
Teru thought for a moment, "Do you think Keara notices? She doesn't seem to. If Nug were here she could tell us."   
  
"I found them!" Keara burst out of the doorway throwing the beaded curtain strings every which direction. Close behind her were Legato and Kuja who looked a little irritated about something. "They were playing around in the back room."   
  
The girl looked up and smiled sheepishly, "Hello."   
  
"So how long will you be keeping them for?" Keara took the completed form and began to look it over. "A week?! Wow, that's a long time to be taking Legato…"   
  
Legato gave Keara a look and Keara quickly changed topic.   
  
"Ok, I just need you to pay us a front charge and you can pay off any extra whatevers when you bring them back."   
  
With a nod the girl pulled a wallet out of her purse and handed Keara an enormous wad of one-dollar bills.   
  
Keara's eye twitched, "And how much is this?"   
  
"Three hundred dollars," The girl smiled and her green eyes sparkled. "I save them up in a jar and I wanted to find something really cool to spend it all on. We're going on a short little ski vacation to Snowshoe Mountain."   
  
"Ah," Keara nodded as she reluctantly took the lump of money and began counting it.   
  
"I hope you two like skiing!" The girl giggled. "That's a cute dress you have, Kuja."   
  
Kuja blinked then made a face of mild irritation, "It's not a dress. It's not even a skirt. It's just a nice piece of fabric that I thought looked good but now I'm starting to regret ever even thinking about wearing it."   
  
Legato picked up the form and began to look it over. He looked over at the girl a moment later and handed it to her. "You forgot to put your name."   
  
Teru and Kashi exchanged looks.   
  
"Oh, did I?" The girl blushed. "I guess I was just so excited," She took the paper and quickly scribbled a name on it.   
  
Keara took the form and tore off the top copy for the girl to keep and put the other copies in a pending payment box under the counter.   
  
"Well, that would be that!" Keara smiled. "Legato and Kuja should be set. All they needs is gear and they'll be good."   
  
Kuja smiled mischievously, "No, I don't even need that. I'll be fine."   
  
"Yeah, and Legato will just steal a snowboard off me," Teru glared at Legato. "That's what he did LAST time we went out for some real activity."   
  
Keara rolled her eyes, "OK! Before this gets any worse, I'm going to have to shove you three out the door!"   
  
The girl laughed and motioned for Legato and Kuja to follow her out, "I'll make sure they stay safe!"   
  
"Thank you!" Keara called after her, but then muttered, "But I think you're the one who's going to need to be looked after."   
  
Kashi smiled and leaned on Teru closing his eyes with contentment. Teru blinked in surprise, but then followed suit by cuddling up with Kashi.   
  
"You guys are too damn cute," Keara shook her head with a smile. "I can't wait to tell Nug we rented Legato!"   
  
  
  
"You did what?!" Nug's eyes were wide. "I can't believe it! You actually did it!"   
  
Soku rolled his eyes. He had been ill tempered ever since Nug had dragged him into the shop yelling at him about what she was going to make Keara write about him. Though Nug had entirely gotten over the whole incident now that she heard about their random business, Soku was still angry about the pointless racket Nug had made about the situation.   
  
"The thing is," Keara pulled out the cash box. "Is that she gave me three hundred dollars in ones."   
  
"You're kidding." Nug's face changed from glee to dread. "All ones?"   
  
Keara nodded and opened the cash box so that Nug could see for herself the horror that was the mass of one-dollar bills.   
  
Teru meandered over to the counter followed by Kashi and they both stared at the money in near disbelief.   
  
"Where do you suppose she got all these ones?" Kashi pondered out loud.   
  
"Maybe she's a waitress," Teru suggested.   
  
With a shrug and a sigh Keara turned her attention to the security monitor. There was nothing interesting to watch, of course, because the only bishounen that were still in the shop were all in the store area.   
  
"We need more bishounen," Keara thought out loud. "Let's make a call to the company and see if they can't send us some Square bishies. They would be really popular."   
  
Kashi looked skeptical, "Kuja is a Squaresoft creation and he doesn't get rented that often."   
  
"Maybe not compared to you," Soku spoke up, sounding just a touch spiteful. "Keara is right, for once. Square is a very popular game company and their bishounen would be the perfect thing to set business rolling."   
  
"You sound like Nug," Keara stared at Soku in amazement.   
  
Nug gave Keara a sarcastic 'Oh-gee-thanks' expression but spoke up anyway. "Soku is right. I'll give them a call tonight and let them know about our idea and we can see what they'll send us."   
  
Keara danced happily at the thought of all the Square bishounen there were and how cool it would be to have them in the shop.   
  
"What was their number?" Nug asked. "I think I wrote it down somewhere."   
  
Soku held up a piece of paper with something scrawled on it in Nug handwriting. Nug took the paper and laughed at her silliness.   
  
"What time is it already?" Teru groaned. "This day has been SO long."   
  
Kashi jumped up, "Hey! Can I pick what we have for dinner?"   
  
Nug nodded vaguely as she hunted for the phone, "Sure, get some money from Keara and go to the store, or go pick something up."   
  
"Oh sure, make me the provider for the family," Keara laughed and handed Kashi part of the wad of one dollar bills.   
  
"Does this mean we're closed now?" Teru asked hopefully.   
  
Keara shrugged, "I guess. It's not as if we have set hours anyway. Kashi, flip the sign over on your way out."   
  
Teru jumped up from the little sofa and crossed the distance from there to the door before Kashi had the sign entirely turned over. "I'm going with you. I don't know what freaks might be roaming the streets out looking for innocent looking young men."   
  
"You mean besides Soku?" Keara laughed. "I don't think you have too much too worry about in this town, Teru."   
  
"I'm going with anyway," Teru stuck his tongue out at Keara. "We don't get to spend a lot of time together now a days as it is."   
  
Kashi's face colored, "Come on Teru, let's go get some nutritious sustenance."   
  
"Some what?" Teru asked as he followed Kashi out into the darkening street.   
  
"Where's the phone?" Nug stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. "I can't find it anywhere!"   
  
Soku sat down in the recliner Legato had been sleeping in earlier and reached across to where the base to the cordless phone was then pushed a small button in. A few seconds later the girls heard a loud beeping noise coming from the general direction of the back room.   
  
Nug gave Soku a 'shut-up-I-know-you're-right' look and tromped off to the store room to retrieve the phone from it's noisy isolation, as it was STILL beeping loudly.   
  
Keara sighed, "Boring end to a boring day."   
  
"We could play Clue," Soku offered. "We might actually be able to have a chance of winning as Kashi isn't here."   
  
Soku got an interested raised eyebrow expression from Keara, "Sounds good to me!"   
  
"What do you mean I need a password?" Nug sounded annoyed as she talked into the phone and walked back to the counter. "We're the only damn bishounen shop in the whole damn world and I need to give you a password?!"   
  
Keara blinked repeatedly in surprise.   
  
Nug sighed in irritation, "Yes, I'll hold."   
  
"What was that about?" Keara gave Nug a puzzled expression.   
  
"They wanted a password!" Nug responded sounding incredulous. "Then I ranted at them and they guy said all smug like, 'That's what he said you'd say' and then put me on hold. What is with companies now a days?"   
  
Soku stood up, "I'll go locate the Clue game and set it up."   
  
With that he ambled back to the break room to seek out the game of the night. Keara took advantage of Soku vacating the recliner and plopped unceremoniously onto the comfy chair.   
  
"Yeah!" Nug spoke into the phone. "I wanted to speak to you about getting some new bishounen in."   
  
Keara watched Nug as she listened to what the person on the other end was saying. Having a brilliant idea hit her; Keara randomly swiped the phone from Nug, pushed a button and placed it back on the base.   
  
"Hey!" Nug protested too late. "What did you-"   
  
"So I'd have to speak with our manager about that if you want to special order bishounen . . . hello?"   
  
A big smile of pride was plastered on Keara's face, "Now I can hear what's going on."   
  
"Clever!" Nug grinned.   
  
"Hello? Miss Nug?" the phone sounded confused.   
  
Nug started and turned her attention back to the phone, "Oh, yes?"   
  
"Good, you're still there." The phone was now relieved. "I'm going to get my manager and you can discuss it with him. I'll be right back."   
  
A happy tune played by a flute and violin began to stream out of the phone. Keara raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Interesting hold music," Keara smiled. "Well, it's better than when K-mart puts you on hold. All you get then is two beeps every few seconds to let you know you're still frustratingly on hold."   
  
"Found it," Soku took the break in conversation as an opportunity to sweep out of the back room with a board game box, which he sat on the floor.   
  
"Clue!" Nug said happily. "I might actually be able to win this time!"   
  
The hold music stopped suddenly and the low voice of a middle-aged man came across the line. "This is the boss. What can I help you with?"   
  
Keara and Nug exchanged puzzled looks, but Nug shook off the weird feeling and responded.   
  
"Yes, we were wondering if it would be possible for you to send us some Final Fantasy characters. Or just some Square bishies in general."   
  
There was a long pause before the creepy voice spoke again, "I can see what I can do. Did you have anything specific in mind?"   
  
"We already have Kuja," Keara muttered.   
  
"Sephiroth," Nug said almost immediately. "Then we could rent him out to guys who wanted to show him off or something."   
  
Soku shrugged and began setting up the game board. It was now completely dark outside and the streetlights gave off a soft yellow glow that reflected on the snow sitting on the other side of the vacant display window.   
  
"Not Kefka," Keara shivered.   
  
"Kefka?" The voice responded.   
  
Just then the door to the shop opened and a figure in a police uniform bustled in. It was the friendly neighborhood Irish officer, but at the moment there was obvious concern in his dark brown eyes.   
  
"Are you aware of where all your boys are?" the officer asked after excusing his intrusion.   
  
The phone spoke up just then, "It seems you're busy. Just so you know the shipment should be there in a couple days. I'll see what I can do about what you asked for."   
  
Soku reached over to the phone and turned it off after he determined there was nothing coming from the other side except a dial tone.   
  
Keara gave the officer an odd look; "Teru and Kashi went to get dinner. They should be back soon, the store isn't that far away."   
  
"I was just there," the Irishman said seriously. "And I didn't see them no where in the streets neither."   
  
"Mope!" Nug wailed. "They were kidnapped! I just know it!"   
  
"Didn't you have green eyes the last time you came in here?" Keara peered curiously at the officer.   
  
Nug, the officer, and Soku gave Keara a look that indicated they thought she needed to take a short trip to the local psychiatric ward, but Keara persisted.   
  
"You did! Your green eyes sparkled."   
  
The Officer looked confused, "I haven't been in this part of town at all today."   
  
The silence that followed then was practically ripping at the seams with tension and confusion. Soku had stopped setting up the game board and was glancing back and forth between Keara and the Irishman. Nug bee-lined for the coffee machine and quickly poured herself a cup of the constantly warm beverage to calm her nerves. Keara leaned farther back into the recliner and stared at the ceiling as if searching for answers.   
  
"I think we may have to wait until our next shipment to clear this up," Soku interjected quietly. 


	3. Bishounen Shop 3

"It's getting better all the ti-i-ime, better all the time," Keara sang to herself as she leaned against the wall next to the truck-receiving door.   
  
Nug, per her usual, took a sip out of a big mug, and then made a face, "This isn't coffee!"   
  
Soku hid a smile of amusement, "No, it's tea. It's better for you."   
  
"If I wanted healthy Nug Fuel I'd put more sugar in it!" She spazed then sighed. "I'm going to the café down the street. Be back in a few."   
  
Keara nodded, most likely to the tune playing in her head, but Nug took it as an affirmative and strolled out of the backroom dumping her mug in the break room sink as she passed it.   
  
The clatter snapped Keara back to reality and she looked around, "Where's Nug?"   
  
Soku shook his head at her pathetic-ness. "She went to get coffee."   
  
"Is she going to get me a cinnamon roll?" Keara pouted.   
  
For a moment Soku just stared at Keara, then he nodded. "Yes."   
  
"Happy glee!" Keara bounced happily.   
  
There came suddenly a loud knocking on the metal receiving door, which startled Keara and halted her happy bobbing.   
  
Soku looked at the door, confusion crossing his features for a moment, but then he pushed a large shiny red button, which caused the heavy metal door to rise.   
  
On the other side of the door stood a man who looked cold and wet. He also was donned in the uniform of a Bishounen Inc Trucking Company driver.   
  
Keara blinked, "Where's your truck?"   
  
The man glared at Keara, and replied in a thick northern accent, "I was assaulted by some freaks that must have thought I was carrying something of value."   
  
"Assaulted?" Keara's eyes were wide. "How did they assault a semi-truck?"   
  
With a shrug the man wandered into the back room, "Mind if I go to the bathroom?"   
  
Soku made a gesture in the direction of the bathroom door, "By all means, make yourself at home."   
  
Once the man had retreated into the closet that serviced as a restroom, Soku addressed Keara in a low tone of voice.   
  
"Do you think he's suspicious? It sounds like a fairly unlikely story."   
  
Keara bit her lip, "Why don't you go check it out? If there's no one there then bring the truck back."   
  
Soku nodded, "I'll be back as soon as I can be."   
  
With that he sauntered out the door and jumped down onto the hard packed ice and snow beneath the opening.   
  
Keara felt a foreboding feeling in her stomach as she watched Soku walk away from her into the morning mist and falling snow.   
  
The trucker came out of the bathroom and gave Keara a strange expression, "Who else uses this bathroom? Not the bishounen I hope."   
  
"Yeah they do," Keara raised an eyebrow. "Why?"   
  
The man looked slightly ill for a moment, "No reason."   
  
Keara was overcome with curiosity and she figured that she didn't have anything else to do, so she wandered over to the bathroom door to investigate. She pushed open the door and clicked the light on.   
  
"Keara! I got you a cinnamon roll!"   
  
"Yay!" Keara forgot about the bathroom and hopped out to meet the Nug who had a big Styrofoam cup full of what Keara assumed was coffee.   
  
Nug took a sip of her coffee and smiled contentedly, "Much better." She watched Keara happily taking the cinnamon roll to the table where she planned to carefully pull it apart. "Yeah, something just kinda told me to get that."   
  
"I'm very glad you did," Keara smiled at her friend before preparing her fork to begin disassembling the hapless cinnamon roll.   
  
With a smile in return Nug sat down in a cushy little chair and happily sipped at her steaming Styrofoam-mug of Nug fuel.   
  
Suddenly, in the middle of Nug's breathing in coffee fumes, she noticed something was wrong.   
  
"Where's Soku?"   
  
Keara looked up, fingers sticky from manually dismantling the cinnamon roll. "He went to get this guy's truck."   
  
The trucker gave Nug a short wave to indicate he was the one Keara was speaking of.   
  
"Um . . . Keara?"   
  
"Mm?" Keara was again distracted from her cinnamon joy.   
  
"Why did you let Soku go out on his own?" She raised her eyebrows for emphasis. "Unattended?"   
  
"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Keara shrugged, but was careful to not be so carefree in her shrug as she could sense she was in some kind of trouble.   
  
Nug put her Styro-mug on the table beside her and put her head in her hands. "I just hope we don't live to really regret this," She mumbled sorrowfully through her hands.   
  
Keara waited a few moments to see if Nug was going to say anything more before turning her attention back to the cinnamon roll.   
  
"Note to self: Never leave Keara by herself when Soku is around or involved in some way," Nug sat back up and picked her coffee off the table to drown her worries in it.   
  
"So ah...what am I supposed to do in the mean time? Stand here?" the trucker crossed his arms looking irritated.   
  
"This is our store," Keara pointed out as she licked her fingers. "You don't have to stay here."   
  
The trucker rolled his eyes and threw his arms up, "Fine, you deal with the shipment yourself." He stormed towards the door that exited to the store. "Here's your packing list."   
  
Nug stared at the stapled sheets of paper the rude Yankee had plopped on her table on his way out. She had never really totally figured out the code that Keara had designed for them to use as their bishounen model numbers, so she picked up the sheet in an attempt to decipher the Keara code.   
  
"Who's supposed to be coming in on this shipment?" Keara asked curiously as she had quickly dispatched the cinnamon roll and now had nothing else to do.   
  
"Er," Nug stared at the mix of numbers and letters then shrugged and handed it to Keara.   
  
"Aww," Keara pouted as she took the papers from Nug. "How come you always make me read these?"   
  
Nug simply stared at Keara.   
  
Keara shrugged then turned her attention to the coded packing list. She blinked and found herself not understanding a thing on the sheet. However, she wasn't about to let Nug know that she couldn't understand her own code, so she continually looked over and over the lines of code until she felt confident in what it said.   
  
"Ok…I see that the bishounen that we're getting are Sephiroth...erm...Kefka...I don't remember telling them anything about Kefka. Do you?"   
  
Realization came up and smacked Nug a good one on the back of her head, the shock of which almost made her drop her Styro-mug of Nug fuel.   
  
"Oh God…we're in big trouble Keara."   
  
Keara's eyes went wide and she looked up fearfully from the packing list. "Nug. We are in trouble. If I'm reading this right…General Hein is on the truck."   
  
Not being able to take it any longer Nug let her cup meet the tabletop again. In her experiences and adventures with Keara there had only ever been one person who could truly and royally screw up any and all of their plans.   
  
"Got a little motto…always sees me through. When you're good to Mama…Mama's good to you!" Keara sang to herself and she looked over the packing list some more.   
  
"Giovanni is not Mama…" Nug grimaced. "Keara, Giovanni is behind this! He has to be. And Soku is helping him ruin us!"   
  
This statement brought Keara regretfully back to reality and she wished for her long gone cinnamon roll.   
  
"Did that guy leave?" Nug raised an eyebrow and looked back to where the store was.   
  
Both girls exchanged glances then got up to investigate. Keara peered out into the shop where she found the truck guy staring at their security monitor.   
  
"Didn't we attach a VCR to that thing?" Nug whispered to Keara, who nodded.   
  
"And we left one of our more racy tapes in…"   
  
"Oh dear…" Nug sighed. "That one from the first day. When we were slow and everyone kept slipping off to the back room…before Soku ruined it of course."   
  
Keara grinned suddenly as an idea came to her. She strode forward and spoke up, "So, is that where Teru and Kashi have the ramen incident, or Soku trying to seduce Teru?"   
  
The trucker jumped, obviously startled, stared at Keara for a moment then looked back at the monitor.   
  
"Ah," Keara smiled and crossed her arms. "Kuja and Legato. I should have known. This was their… I think third time that day."   
  
Nug was leaning on the doorframe for support as she laughed to herself.   
  
The trucker still hadn't said anything. He could only stare at the screen.   
  
"Oh, come now." Keara continued to prod him. "Haven't you ever seen someone do that before?"   
  
Nug's giggling had quieted down as she could see that they were getting absolutely no reaction from the trucker.   
  
Keara looked back at Nug looking worried, "He ships bishounen, you would think he would be used to it…"   
  
The moment was beginning to feel very awkward so Keara walked back to the Nug, who had now completely stopped laughing.   
  
"Maybe we should just go sit in the back and wait for Soku to get back. Then we'll see how we're going to deal with...our shipment." Nug sighed and turned to go sit next to her hardly touched cup of coffee.   
  
  
  
"Wait and see what happens…" Nug growled to herself. "What an idiot I was."   
  
Keara shrugged, or tried to but the ropes tied around her kept her firmly strapped to her chair.   
  
General Hein from the Final Fantasy movie crossed his arms and grinned smugly at them. Soku was lounging on the couch eating a random apple he had found in the small kitchen.   
  
"Thought you could outsmart us did you?" Kefka smiled in a way that was quite creepy. "We showed you, didn't we?"   
  
"Shut up!" General Hein glared at the evil clown-like creature. "I hate clowns. I don't know why you had to be included in this venture."   
  
Soku studied the apple he had been eating as he spoke, "Because Giovanni thought it would be amusing to torture Brianna with the evil clown."   
  
Keara blinked, "Brianna? Who's Bri…oh."   
  
Nug sighed and shook her head, "You've been calling me Nug for so long you forgot my name was Brianna."   
  
It had been a fairly simple take-over as far as invasions are concerned. Keara, always the admirer of pretty things had simply stared at the one of her captors and Nug was too freaked out by the other two to do much other than stare in fear.   
  
Fortunately the girls had gotten at least one of their requests answered, and that was that Sephiroth had been sent along for the ride. The bad thing was, he was on General Hein's side of things.   
  
"I feel betrayed…" Keara moped.   
  
Nug glared at Soku, "Yeah…me too."   
  
"Because…I mean," Keara sniffled. "We asked for Sephiroth from FF7…and they sent us the Kingdom Hearts Sephiroth. I mean…not that I'm complaining cuz KH Sephy is pretty too… but I wish they at least could listen to me…"   
  
The room fell silent and all eyes turned to Keara.   
  
Keara noticed the sudden silence and picked her head up to look around, "What?"   
  
General Hein's eyes narrowed, "There! Do you see what I mean? This place must be destroyed at all costs. The youth of the world needs to spend its time doing something other than obsessing over good-looking characters."   
  
"That's blasphemy!" Nug shouted and struggled against her bonds. "We have a right to get obsessed over whatever we want!"   
  
"Take them out of my sight." General Hein growled and stormed off into the shop where he came across the trucker, still staring at the security monitor.   
  
"Good God man, what are you watching?"   
  
There was a long silence in which everyone turned his or her attention to the doorway into the shop.   
  
The good general walked back out a few moments later with a dazed expression. He straightened up when he saw the girls still sitting at the table tied to their respective chairs.   
  
"I told you to get them out of my sight!" He glared at Kefka who grinned. "Throw them in the bathroom," General Hein finished with a cool and wicked smile.   
  
"No, not the bathroom," Soku spoke up.   
  
General Hein turned a murderous look on Soku, "And who decided to put you in charge?"   
  
"Oooh…cat fight!" Keara muttered.   
  
Sephiroth moved from his spot in the corner where he had stood quietly for all of the previous happenings. His sudden presence quieted the noise then, when he was satisfied he had gotten their attention, he picked Nug and Keara up by their ropes and tossed them into the bathroom, shutting the door hard behind them.   
  
Keara struggled to sit up then leaned against the sink cabinet, "It's so messy in here…no wonder that trucker made a face…"   
  
Nug leaned on the wall adjacent to the toilet and sighed, "Looks like someone has been living in here…"   
  
To Nug's great surprise, she suddenly found that the wall she had been leaning on was no longer in existence and she quickly fell backwards finding herself looking up at a strange girl.   
  
"You're not Soku…" the girl looked puzzled, but then grinned. "Are you my new company? Did they kick you out of the Rocket headquarters too?"   
  
Nug and Keara blinked.   
  
The girl's smile faded a bit, "Hm…not quite the talkative types are you?"   
  
"Oh, we talk just fine," Keara reassured her. "But why are you living in our shop's bathroom?"   
  
"Did the take over happen yet?" The girl ignored Keara's question and crawled into the small bathroom area. "Tell me all about it!"   
  
"You knew this was going to happen and you never tried to warn us?" Nug struggled up and leaned against the wall next to Keara. "Why are you hiding in our bathroom?"   
  
The girl sighed, "I got kicked out of Giovanni's headquarters for creating mayhem, and they sent me here under cover. Soku has been hiding me in this secret room behind the bathroom wall because Giovanni told him that I could be useful for something here."   
  
"I told you it was Giovanni!" Nug smiled with pride for having figured it out.   
  
"So, I answered your question…" the girl grinned. "Now answer mine! Or I'll sic my pets on you."   
  
Keara sighed, "Ok…it went kinda like this…"   
  
  
  
~~Magical Flashback sequence~~   
  
  
  
"Maybe we should just go sit in the back and wait for Soku to get back. Then we'll see how we're going to deal with...our shipment." Nug sighed and turned to go sit next to her hardly touched cup of coffee.   
  
"Maybe," Keara said hopefully sitting down in one of the chairs in the back room. "We can go get me another cinnamon roll."   
  
A low rumbling noise, like a motor, drifted in through the open truck door and met the ears of the bored Bishounen shop owners. Nug took a great big chug of coffee and stood up, then she walked over the very edge of the door and watched nervously as the Bishounen truck came closer.   
  
At a certain point, the truck stopped, turned around and began backing towards the platform where Keara had joined Nug in staring at the approaching truck.   
  
"Why do they have to paint the truck in those colors?" Nug wondered out loud. "I mean…I suppose purple is an OK color for a truck…but did it really need all the little decorations with the other colors?"   
  
Keara looked up from examining the packing list, "Um…well…I guess it's to disguise what's really in there…"   
  
Nug shrugged, "Ok, Keara…ready the packing list…let's treat this like a normal shipment."   
  
The back of the truck pulled up so that it was right against the door opening and soon Soku was standing next to them on the platform waiting for their signal to lift the truck's back door.   
  
A brief nod from Nug was all he needed to unlatch the door and let it roll up into the ceiling of the cargo area. The girls hadn't really known what to expect, but one could be sure from their bewildered faces that they had not been expecting three innocent looking boxes.   
  
Keara looked over at Nug in confusion, then entered the back of the truck and began checking the numbers against the list. When she was done, she simply continued to stare at the boxes until Nug was sure something was wrong with her. "Keara? What is it?"   
  
Without looking at Nug, Keara spoke, "Tell me if these numbers sound familiar…1905…1109…2015…all starting with DEM."   
  
Nug's arms fell to her sides, "The Demo bishy boxes…that we sent back ourselves…"   
  
Soku smiled smugly and crossed the room where he lounged on the couch, picking an apple off of a nearby table.   
  
Keara moved out of the back of the truck and stood next to Nug, still in a slight daze.   
  
"Soku, what is going on here?" Nug turned to look at the evil bishy.   
  
"What, indeed?" Came a low menacing voice from behind her.   
  
The girls turned in surprise and what met their eyes confirmed their worst fears. In front of them stood a tall man with slicked back hair wearing a long, black trench coat that would be the envy of all wanna-be evil-bishies.   
  
"General Hein…" Keara whispered.   
  
"Evil clown!" Nug yelled in fear and backed up several steps.   
  
"That's just Kefka…" Keara tried to reassure the Nug, then realized how silly what she had said sounded. "Mope…I guess they did send you after all…"   
  
From behind the two menacing bad guys came a third tall figure with long flowing white hair, an enormous sword and who was also clad in a black trench coat to envy.   
  
"Sephiroth…" Keara muttered in awe.   
  
  
  
~~End of Magical Flashback~~   
  
  
  
"That easy?" The girl was dumbfounded. "I can't believe you just stood there!"   
  
Keara slumped, "But it was Sephiroth…"   
  
"Yes, and he tied us up too…then he threw us back here…" Nug sighed.   
  
The bathroom dweller scratched her head, further disheveling her wavy sandy blonde hair. "Why would Sephiroth be on their side…oh…never mind. He hates fan girls. You two run a shop dedicated to bishounen, which only deranged fan girls would do, so he's naturally against you."   
  
The three girls sat in silence for a long while, doing nothing but staring at various objects in the bathroom and fiddling with their own fingernails.   
  
"May I ask your name?" Keara spoke up randomly, tired of the silence.   
  
"Krysta," The girl smiled.   
  
"Like the fairy from the cartoon movie…Fern-"   
  
Nug clapped her hand over Keara's mouth, "No speaking of things like that. We might get sued."   
  
Keara nodded, "Ok, I'll call you fairy then."   
  
"Or if you want, to continue with the food name tradition we can call her fairy cake." Nug pointed out.   
  
Krysta looked back and forth between the two plotting storeowners not really sure what to think of them already renaming her.   
  
"Ok, Cake it is then." Keara nodded.   
  
  
  
"Alright, we have them at our feet," General Hein leaned back in the recliner in the bishounen shop. "Kefka, are you sure that the prisoners Kuja and Legato are secure?"   
  
Kefka nodded, "Oh yes quite. I'm glad I thought of that disguise, it was quite clever on my part. No one would suspect an innocent fan girl."   
  
Soku rolled his eyes, "You only bounced the idea off of me. I told you to disguise yourself as the police officer to get Nug to leave so that we could easily trick Keara into renting out Legato and Kuja."   
  
"No, no," Kefka glared at him. "If I remember correctly-"   
  
"It doesn't matter who thought of what," General Hein interrupted. "Just tell me if everything is going to work out alright. Taking out one little insignificant shop can't be all that hard."   
  
"It depends on what you consider difficult," Soku addressed the general, ignoring Kefka.   
  
Kefka glared at Soku, "I'm in charge of this operation, I don't know why you keep talking to him."   
  
General Hein gave Kefka an 'Oh really?' look.   
  
Soku stared at Kefka for a moment, then turned back to Sephiroth, who was content to simply stand off to the side.   
  
"Would you go fetch those girls?"   
  
Sephiroth nodded at Soku's request and moved to the back room.   
  
"So, you think you're just using us to get to your own gain, hm Kefka?" General Hein put a gloved hand to his chin looking as if he was thinking carefully about something. "Interesting."   
  
  
  
The door to the bathroom was yanked open suddenly and violently, causing Nug and Keara who had been leaning on it to fall over backwards. They stared in awe at Sephiroth's shoes and the bottom of his coat.   
  
"Whee! Sephy!" Cake leapt at the white-haired bishounen.   
  
Before she could get too far, Sephiroth constructed a quick barrier that Cake hit, then slid off of. A self-satisfied smile graced Sephiroth's features and he looked down at the three fan girls on the floor.   
  
"General Hein wants to see you," Sephiroth explained emotionlessly. "Get up and follow me."   
  
Cake sat up and shook her head clear, "That was rude…Let's go after him!"   
  
Keara and Nug marveled at Cake's resilience to abuse and struggled to get up with their hands still tied behind their backs.   
  
When the girls finally made it into the shop they happened upon the good general and Kefka in the middle of a heated argument. The only thing keeping the evil clown from using his evil powers at the moment was the return of Sephiroth.   
  
Nug stared in fear of the clown and hid behind Keara and Cake. Cake herself seemed a little nervous around the colorful man in make-up. Keara, who didn't really care if Kefka was a clown, was perfectly fine being at the front of the line, closest to Kefka and General Hein.   
  
"I am the leader!" General Hein slammed his fist on the counter. "Giovanni may be funding this whole procedure, but I am in charge."   
  
Kefka scoffed, "You are just some silly non-magic using human! I could crush you like an insect!"   
  
Sephiroth sighed, "Kefka, calm down. We have to interrogate these stupid fan girls for information."   
  
"In…interrogate?" Nug's eyes grew wide.   
  
Cake whimpered, "I just wanted to glomp Sephy…"   
  
Soku smiled pleasantly and lead the girls to the back room where they could sit down at a table. Shortly after they were seated General Hein and Sephiroth followed.   
  
"I'll get something for us to drink," Kefka smiled slyly and made himself busy in the little kitchen.   
  
This only served to unnerve the girls more as they couldn't see what the evil clown was up to due to the fact that their backs were facing the kitchen.   
  
General Hein sauntered up to the table and gave them an arrogant smile, "So, tell me, where do you get your…shipments from?"   
  
Nug blinked, "We don't know."   
  
The general crossed his arms and gave Nug a look, "Yes you do, don't lie."   
  
"But we don't!" Keara protested. "Soku should know we don't, he's always there when stuff comes in."   
  
"Um…excuse me…" Cake raised her hand. "Why don't you just follow one of the trucks if you want to know so bad?"   
  
Silence descended upon all gathered.   
  
"Hush you silly girl," Hein glared at Cake. "If it was that easy we would have done it already."   
  
Kefka chose this moment to bring a tray to the table that had several glasses of water resting on it. He sat a glass in front of each of the girls and handed a glass to each of the bishounen.   
  
For the most part, the water went unnoticed as everyone either ignored or put down their respective glass of water. Keara sighed, she would drink hers…but her hands were still bound behind her back.   
  
As if reading her thoughts, which he probably had done, Soku came closer to the girls' table and untied Nug and Keara from their unhappy bonds.   
  
Quickly, Keara pulled out random strips of Ph paper from her pocket and stuck one partially in her water glass. Knowing how evil Kefka could be was something she had over everyone else in the room. She knew that Kefka had an affinity for covertly attacking people.   
  
General Hein gave Keara an irritated look, "Put those away and answer me!"   
  
"We did!" Nug exclaimed. "If you want to know where the shipping company is, why don't you just stow away on a truck after they bring a shipment in?"   
  
Kefka giggled, "Why didn't you think of that, General? Aren't you supposed to be the clever one in charge?"   
  
"I told you to shut up!" General Hein glared at the evil clown. He didn't like his authority or his intelligence put to question, and he was quite tired of the fool doing both.   
  
"Maybe I don't want to shut up!" Kefka snarled back. "I'm tired of you bossing us around as if we were your addle-brained troops!"   
  
"Well at least my 'addle-brained troops' know how to listen," Came Hein's acidic reply.   
  
Soku seemed amused by the whole argument and he simply stood by and watched as the two men got into their billionth tiff of the day. It seemed that Sephiroth could care less as he was sitting at a table as far off as possible sipping his water.   
  
In no time at all Kefka and the General had argued themselves hoarse. They both reached for the same glass of water in front of Keara, which Keara had just been in the process of Ph testing.   
  
Kefka smiled triumphantly as he was the first to grab the glass. At the same moment he began to down the water, Keara's PH changed…but it wasn't a change Keara was familiar with.   
  
"Poisoned?" Nug read the word on the Ph strip. "I didn't know they said that."   
  
Cake's curiosity got the better of her and she too peered at the little piece of paper. "What's that supposed to mean?"   
  
The empty glass was slammed on the table in front of the girls and Kefka stared in horror at the Ph test.   
  
General Hein smirked, "Fell victim to your own trick, did you?"   
  
Kefka began to cough and he put his hands to his throat as if he were choking on something.   
  
"See where greed gets you?" Hein crossed his arms as he took in Kefka's death with his own eyes.   
  
Sephiroth looked down at his own glass of water in slight alarm, but upon noticing that he felt fine, he went back to reading a random magazine.   
  
Keara was still amazed at the fact that her Ph test had given her a word and not just changed color. It was a miracle in the world of science…except no one would ever know…   
  
"Now…" The general kicked Kefka's body aside, which in traditional Final Fantasy style turned into a pile of glowing red and vanished. "Now that he has been taken care of, we can get on with my real plans." He looked pointedly at Nug. "I want you to place an order so that we can track the truck back to its origins. From there we can take down this entire silly industry."   
  
Cake looked a little forlornly at her glass of water, "I can't drink my water, and now we can't have bishounen anymore? What kind of world is this?"   
  
Nug sighed, "A horrible cruel world where the only good thing it ever does for you…is kill a clown…"   
  



	4. Bishounen Shop 4

The night was pitch dark with only a few spots of stars to light the streets in the snow village of Yar. Clouds covered the usual over-abundance of bright dots in the sky, and the moon was New this night.   
  
However, despite the lateness of the hour, there were lights on in the newest shop on 42nd street. The sign above the window was off, but the lights inside reflected off the snow and cast a dim light on it; enough light to read "Shonen Shack".   
  
"I can't believe you named it that," General Hein's lip curled in disgust as he stared at one of the bishounen rental sheets.   
  
Nug looked up at the 'good' general with tired eyes, "We thought it was funny."   
  
Keara's head fell abruptly onto the tabletop and she began to mutter almost inaudibly. "Stupid Hein...we'll show you..."   
  
General Hein raised an eyebrow in question and looked pointedly at Nug, "What's she mumbling about?"   
  
Cake poked Keara's arm tentatively, "Hello?"   
  
Nug sighed, "She's been asleep in that chair for about 20 minutes. She's just talking in her sleep."   
  
"For your sake, she better be," General Hein tossed the form onto the table. "How is that order coming along?"   
  
Because she was the only one awake enough to do so, Cake stood up and cleared her throat.   
  
"Yankee Doodle went to town riding on a pony. He stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni."   
  
"Wha-?" Keara picked her head up off the table and stared dazedly at Cake. "Who yanked what doodle?"   
  
General Hein put a glove-clad hand to his forehead and sighed in exasperation, "I can't believe they left me alone with you three."   
  
Nug blinked, "Where _ did _ Sephiroth and Soku go?"   
  
"To get pizza," Keara mumbled as she laid her head back on the table.   
  
Cake looked at her watch with a quizzical expression, "You can get pizza at 2 in the morning?"   
  
"Talking in her sleep again," Nug yawned and returned to going through a long list of orderable bishounen.   
  
"Why are you taking so long?" Hein growled at Nug and began to pace. "It's not as if I asked you to do a difficult task! Just order some weak, normal ones so that the truck comes!"   
  
Nug stared blankly at Hein for a few long moments, then she blinked, "Well, you see…"   
  
The bell above the door jingled which caught the attention of everyone except Keara, who was hopelessly passed out.   
  
"Got the pizza," Soku said casually as he locked the door behind him.   
  
Sephiroth made his way over to the table where the girls were seated and poked Keara, "Are you alive?"   
  
Keara muttered something about star-shaped pieces and fell silent again.   
  
Soku brought the two large pizzas over to the table that they had brought in from the back room where everyone was gathered. The happy smell of food was enough to entice even Keara to pick her head up.   
  
"Oooh…" Cake peered over the table at the pizza box. "From the 42nd street pizza parlor…good stuff. Soku brought me some of this a little while back."   
  
Nug blinked in confusion, then shook her head, "That's right. I keep forgetting Soku the traitor had you locked up in our bathroom."   
  
"Not," Soku raised a finger. "In the bathroom. In the secret room BEHIND the bathroom."   
  
"Whatever," Nug made a flat eyes face.   
  
Soon the two boxes of pizza were decimated and nothing remained of them save two sauce stained boxed and a few pizza crusts. Sephiroth had taken over residence of the recliner from the old prop store and was sharpening his impossibly long sword.   
  
Cake stared in awe at the white haired bishy and without thinking reached out to touch the shiny sword. She gained a glare from Sephiroth and a small cut on her finger, which she made a big deal of.   
  
"Look!" She put the injured finger in Hein's face. "I need a band-aid!"   
  
"Why should I care?" Hein lost his temper and yelled at Cake. "It's your own fault for bothering Sephiroth while he had his sword out!"   
  
The yelling woke Keara up from her happy full of pizza sleep land and she glared groggily at Hein, "No yelling. You're not an alarm clock."   
  
Soku hid his amusement at Hein's frustration and spoke up in a calm matter-of-fact tone of voice, "Perhaps we should let them go to sleep, since we're not accomplishing much by making them stay up. Keara is practically asleep already."   
  
Nug took this opportune moment to pass out, bishounen list still in one hand, and a pen in the other.   
  
"Fine," the flustered Hein crossed his arms. "Sephiroth, take them upstairs and stay up there so that they don't try to escape."   
  
Sephiroth looked up from his blade sharpening and simply stared at Hein as if the man had just said the moon was made of doughnut holes.   
  
"Ok! Bedtime!" Cake hopped out of her chair and shook Nug and Keara until they too were groggily picking their heads up off the table.   
  
As soon as Nug and Keara had ascended the stairs and Cake had returned to her hole in the bathroom wall, Sephiroth followed the two shop owners up the stairs with one final glare at General Hein.   
  
  
  
Sun now streamed in the front windows of the Shonen Shack, playing happily on General Hein's face where he was trying to sleep on the cushions in the window.   
  
He cursed to himself and finally moved out of the window in a bad mood and tried to find the coffee maker. Soku looked up at him from where he was sitting at the table reading the morning newspaper. Now that the table had been moved in from the backroom, it was starting to become a normal piece of Shop furniture.   
  
"Good morning, general," Soku nodded at Hein and took a sip of coffee. "I hope you slept well."   
  
The general simply glared at Soku and rummaged for a coffee mug so that he could partake of the morning Nug fuel. Of course, Nug hadn't come down from her room yet, so it really couldn't be dubbed Nug fuel yet.   
  
Heavy footsteps tromped down the stairs that were hidden off to the side of the counter and soon Sephiroth too was at the coffee machine. He didn't look as if he was very awake, and he also didn't seem to be in a very cheerful mood.   
  
"What's your problem?" Hein asked of the irritable Sephiroth before partaking of his coffee.   
  
Sephiroth glared at Hein, "You took the last clean coffee mug."   
  
"He did what?" Nug managed as she stumbled down the stairs, followed shortly after by a dazed looking Keara.   
  
Soku smiled to himself and took a sip of coffee, pretending to ignore the others in the room.   
  
"He took the last clean mug." Sephiroth growled dangerously. "You either give me your cup or you had better wash me one."   
  
General Hein scoffed, "Why should I do that?"   
  
"Because I'll have your head if you don't!" Nug cut Sephiroth's reply off. "I need my morning coffee!"   
  
Keara nodded, "Yeah, you should see her if she-" Keara stopped for a moment to think about what she was saying. "Never mind. You DON'T want to see her when she's had no coffee."   
  
Sephiroth unsheathed his sword and brandished the weapon in a threatening manner; of course, with a blade that seemed as large as the room itself, it's hard to make it appear non-threatening.   
  
In response General Hein only glared at the one-winged angel and took a big gulp of his coffee. Sephiroth's sword raised in the air poised to strike down the general while the two young shop owners looked on in fear and awe.   
  
"Hey, guys," Cake entered the room via the door to the backroom. "I made some coffee back here if you want any. I had to wash a few mugs to have enough for everyone-"   
  
Immediately Sephiroth returned his sword to it's place on his belt and he strode quickly over to where Cake was still standing in the doorway.   
  
"Move."   
  
Cake nodded nervously and hurriedly stepped out of the white-haired bishounen's way. When Sephiroth was all the way through the door, black wing and all, Nug regained her proper coffee desire and followed suit.   
  
Soku chuckled in amusement as he finished off his cup of coffee then got up and handed the empty mug to Keara. "There should be some juice in the fridge. You can rinse this out and use it."   
  
Keara blinked at Soku, then looked quizzically at the mug in her hand and smiled lazily as she wasn't entirely awake yet. "Okie."   
  
  
  
"Yes...yes that's right," Nug spoke into the phone receiver and sighed. "Yes, I'm aware that they are all Ukes...yes...I..."   
  
Keara raised an eyebrow, and mouthed, "What are they going on about?"   
  
Nug shrugged, "Look, would you just send the damn order? I desperately need it because we rented out all out bishounen the other day and I need something to sell."   
  
Everyone watched with baited breath as Nug listened to the reply from the other end of the phone conversation.   
  
"Ok, thank you. Good bye!" Nug clicked off the cordless phone and rolled her eyes. "That guy must think I'm a total idiot."   
  
"What was he giving you a hard time about?" General Hein wanted to know. His plot to undermine the bishounen business could be at risk, after all.   
  
After a deep sigh Nug felt like explaining. Again. "He was trying to point out the fact that our whole shipment consists of Ukes and singles, which I know about and tried to tell him I knew that. So he thinks I'm an idiot and that I don't know what I'm doing."   
  
General Hein contemplated this, trying to see if this could hurt his scheme in any way. He looked over at Sephiroth, who had been residing in the recliner, to see if perhaps he could get a little advise but to his dismay, his attention was being attracted elsewhere by Keara.   
  
"You're cuddly," Keara muttered happily as she sat in Sephiroth's lap and snuggled up to him.   
  
Sephiroth didn't seem to mind the attention, as Keara wasn't acting like a rabid fan girl yet, so he simply sat there and occasionally played with Keara's hair. With Sephiroth distracted, Hein didn't want to talk to the bishounen anymore; Soku was better at giving advice anyway.   
  
However, Soku was nowhere to be seen.   
  
Nug became instantly wary if every little movement and sound in the shop, and if someone had seen her and not known what the situation was, she would have looked like a paranoid freak.   
  
Keara, upon hearing the news that Soku's whereabouts were unknown wrapped her arms around Sephiroth's neck and buried her face in his chest. Cake moped because she hadn't been clever enough to think of jumping in Sephiroth's lap before Keara had.   
  
Anger boiled up inside the general and he began to pace stiffly between the door and the table Nug was sitting at, still glancing about her like a schizophrenic.   
  
"He had better not be off trying to sabotage me."   
  
"Now, why would I do that?" A lilting voice came from the door when Hein had his back turned to it.   
  
At the sound of Soku's voice, General Hein whirled around to take his anger out on him, "Why weren't you here? Where did you wander off to?"   
  
Soku held up a pair of pizza boxes, "To get lunch. People have to eat, you know."   
  
"You've been sneaking off for pizza an awful lot as of late," Hein observed.   
  
With a shrug Soku placed the pizza box on the table, "It's good pizza. Besides, it's not up to you to tell me where and when I can go."   
  
Sephiroth let a sly smile sneak up his face and he began to scratch Keara's head.   
  
"Mmm...pizza..." Nug reveled in the wonderfully delicious 42nd street pizza.   
  
"Sooo," Cake raised her eyebrows. "When is that shipment getting in?"   
  
"Tonight...sometime..." Keara replied in a dreamy voice.   
  
"Tonight?" General Hein whirled on Keara. "If it's at night I can't very well see where it's going, now can I?"   
  
Keara pulled herself closer to Sephiroth who wrapped his arms around her and folded his one black wing down for further protection.   
  
"I can't believe this!" Hein threw his hands up in the air. "Are you on their side now?"   
  
Sephiroth glared back at the general, "They're nicer to me than you are."   
  
"But do you know what she is?" Hein pointed a finger at Keara. "She's a fan-girl! Just like-" He pointed over at Nug and Cake who were helping themselves to the pizza. "Them! They're all the same! Crazed, rabid fan girls who revel in torturing you!"   
  
"Whe donbt's wamt-" Nug began with her mouth full of pizza. She sighed and finished chewing. "We don't want to torture you. We just do stuff to your characters that is suggested at but never actually happens."   
  
Cake nodded, her mouth too full of food to attempt a response.   
  
Keara looked over at the pizza with interest, "Oooh, I want a slice."   
  
General Hein seethed with anger and stormed into the back room to, for all everyone else knew, blow up something. But really all he did was grumble about traitors and all that jazz for a half hour or so.   
  
  
  
Night fell with no further upsets at the Bishounen Shop. General Hein had grumbled to himself for the remainder of the afternoon; Sephiroth and Soku and tied the girls back up, despite the fact that Sephiroth liked the attention he got from the fan girls.   
  
Nug sighed and leaned her head back against Keara's as they were sitting back to back. "I think I'm going to die of boredom."   
  
"I don't even have a notebook," Keara replied dejectedly.   
  
Cake had resigned to singing aimlessly to herself, and she was tied up in a chair next to the entrance to the back room, as Hein hadn't wanted to tie all three of them together.   
  
Sephiroth had again taken up residence in the old recliner and was sharpening his ridiculously long sword for what must have been the hundredth time that day.   
  
"Don't you ever get tired of doing that?" Nug asked of the white haired one.   
  
"No."   
  
If they could have seen each other, Keara and Nug would have exchanged glances as a comment to how uncommunicative Sephiroth was being.   
  
General Hein stormed back into the shop from the back and stood next to Keara and Nug so that they could both see him if they turned their heads. He crossed his arms and took a stiff-backed stance as if to insure his dominance over them.   
  
"I have constructed a tracking device since you two have so graciously made the truck come late with your procrastination."   
  
Nug narrowed her eyes.   
  
"Made a tracking device out of what?" Keara furrowed her eyebrows in thought and stared at the floorboards in front of her. "I mean, we have clothes back there. So unless we have high-tech clothing that we didn't know about-"   
  
"I had a special shipment come in while you were out here playing with the traitors."   
  
Soku's eyebrows rose slightly and he looked over at Sephiroth who looked more than a little irritated.   
  
As always seems to happen during tense moments, there came a knocking from the back room. General Hein smiled arrogantly and sauntered off to answer the door.   
  
"You three girls stay quiet," Was the general's parting statement before he vanished entirely into the back.   
  
Cake laughed, "Yeah, sure we will."   
  
In the blink of an eye Sephiroth had the Masamune at Cake's throat. He glared at her dangerously, then moved the weapon away when he thought that the girl was sufficiently terrified.   
  
"That's not fair!" Cake moped. "You cuddle with Keara, but you put pointy objects at my neck!"   
  
Sephiroth sighed and ignored Cake's complaining. Soku strolled over to the spot where Keara and Nug were tied together.   
  
"So, are you about ready to have your store back?" Soku asked nonchalantly.   
  
The two girls blinked then looked up at Soku in mild shock. However, the serious look on the evil bishounen's face told them without a doubt that Soku was indeed not kidding.   
  
"Not that I'm complaining," Nug began carefully. "But why are you willing to let us go and all?"   
  
Soku sighed loudly and glared in the direction of the back room, "Because frankly, he's driving me mad."   
  
Keara blinked, "But I thought you were sociopathic."   
  
"So do you want your store back?" Soku commented ignoring Keara.   
  
"Yes!" Nug wailed. "And I want my coffee all to myself again!"   
  
Sephiroth gave Soku a skeptical look. "How do you plan on getting rid of Hein and his threat to this store?"   
  
"For one," Soku strode over to the counter where he picked up a copy of the order Nug had called in. "If I'm reading this right, Nug here ordered a shipment of hero bishounen. They may be ukes, but they still have the save the person in danger instinct."   
  
Cake perked up, "Zippity do da!"   
  
General Hein stormed in from the back room just then catching the girls off guard. Soku put down the copy of the order and crossed his arms.   
  
"She wants you two out here," Hein said gruffly and motioned vaguely at Nug and Keara.   
  
"Ok then," Nug sat up as straight as she could. "Untie us and let us handle this. This is OUR shop after all."   
  
/Act normal. Don't set off Hein's alarms until the truck is gone. I've got plans to stop it./   
  
If they hadn't been used to Soku randomly communicating telepathically Keara and Nug would have jumped in surprise. Cake hummed to herself blissfully unaware as she had not been included. It was nothing personal against her, of course, Soku just knew that her reaction to having a foreign voice in her head would have been . . . negative.   
  
The owners of the shop waited patiently as Sephiroth complacently continued to play Hein's go-fer and untied the girls. Once they were free, Keara and Nug did their best to appear as if nothing was awry as they made their way into the receiving area.   
  
There was a rough looking woman with her sandy blonde hair done in a messy ponytail and a cigarette hung from her lips.   
  
"Are you two the owners?" The woman asked gruffly.   
  
Nug took the forefront, "Yes, ma'am we are. I'm glad our shipment came in."   
  
The woman looked down at a clipboard she had, and then up at Nug. "I am instructed to inform you that your shipping request is quite odd, and uncharacteristic. I am to tell the company why such a shipment was requested."   
  
Keara shrugged, "We were out of Ukes. The Semes seem to be less desirable."   
  
"What she said," Nug smiled a little at Keara's matter of fact reply.   
  
"Alright then," the woman nodded. "That'll do just fine."   
  
General Hein watched in anticipation as the woman tucked her clipboard under her arm and proceeded to open the truck door. Inside were the usual large boxes and a few smaller ones, which held their extra clothing and the like. Nug squinted her eyes a little as she tried to remember which bishounen exactly she had ordered.   
  
In a matter of minutes the trucker-lady and Hein had removed the few boxes from the back of the cargo bay. Nug was presented the clipboard by the shipper and as she signed her name to the bottom of the order form Keara watched as Hein slipped quickly into the still open truck door and placed a small something on the wall of the cargo bay.   
  
"Thank you much," the woman smiled. "You have a good night." She nodded at Hein then closed the cargo door, climbed into her truck and soon disappeared into the night darkness.   
  
Hein grinned smugly down at the two female shop owners, "Well, soon your little…operation will be all uncovered and this will be no more."   
  
"Answer a question for me, will ya?" Nug crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side a little. "Why does Giovanni want to shut us down so bad? He got Sephiroth, didn't he?"   
  
A glare replaced the grin Hein had been wearing, "Getting Sephiroth was sheer luck. Some of his Rockets waylaid a truck that they thought was carrying something valuable, but instead they found Sephiroth in a box."   
  
Keara's eyes grew wide, "So, Sephiroth blabbed the whole secret about the bishounen shop to Giovanni?"   
  
"Not all of it."   
  
The trio turned to see Sephiroth leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed. Next to him stood Soku, and Cake behind them who was trying to see over their shoulders.   
  
"I do have a bit of programming so I couldn't tell him where the company was located." Sephiroth moved across the room and stood facing the girls. "They managed to get Kefka and Hein somehow. I think they have a secret door into the Square headquarters where they can steal the unpleasant Final Fantasy characters."   
  
"Unpleasant am I?" General Hein raised his head and tried to look down his nose at Sephiroth.   
  
Soku in the meantime set about opening the boxes that the trucker lady had left. Somehow Sephiroth kept General Hein distracted for long enough that out of the three boxes climbed the hero bishounen.   
  
"Your time is up!" A young kid with wildly spiky brown hair announced as he pointed a large key at the general.   
  
Hein's eyes narrowed and he turned slowly and glared down at the boy, "What do you think you're going to do with that, boy?"   
  
"Hey Sora!" Keara grinned.   
  
"Huh?" The boy looked past Hein at Keara, then smiled. "Hello."   
  
"Don't get distracted." A man with equally spiky, but blonde hair walked up next to Sora and glared at Hein. "Betraying our company are you?"   
  
"Cloud." Sephiroth blinked then smiled. "Nice to see you again."   
  
The sight of Sephiroth surprised Cloud, but regardless he retained his cool and pulled his huge sword from his back and brandished it.   
  
General Hein smiled, "Ah, you think you're all so clever don't you?" Hein pulled a pistol from the depths of his evil trench coat and pointed it at the two sword wielding bishounen. "Go ahead and make a move."   
  
Without any warning at all there was a golden claw at Hein's throat and a gloved hand grabbed the pistol from Hein's hand.   
  
A very quiet voice spoke in his ear, "You may have had a gun, but you did not have your wits about you."   
  
"Vincent!" Keara hopped gleefully. "Nug! Why didn't you tell me you picked these guys?"   
  
Nug blinked, "I didn't order these guys." She glanced over at Soku who was looked about the room innocently. "I think someone tampered with my order."   
  
"Are you complaining?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.   
  
"Tie up the coat wearing bad guy!" Sora exclaimed.   
  
Sephiroth smirked, "Which coat wearing bad guy?"   
  
"The..." Sora stared nervously at Sephiroth remembering many a beating from the menacing one-winged angel. "The..."   
  
"The ugly one," Cloud spoke up.   
  
General Hein glared at Cloud, "You'll all pay for this. You don't realize that you're stopping the one person trying to help you!"   
  
Vincent rolled his eyes and pushed Hein over to a random chair. After Sora and Cloud had set to tying up the frustrating Final Fantasy villain, Vincent regarded the pistol Hein had been attempting to scare everyone with. He chuckled to himself then crunched it into a ball in his clawed hand.   
  
"You're so cool!" Cake glomped Vincent gleefully.   
  
Cloud looked over at Keara and Nug in alarm, fearing the same fate for himself, but for the moment, Cake had detached herself from Vincent and was paying attention to Sephiroth.   
  
Soku crossed his arms and smiled slyly down at Hein, "Did you really think this little plan was going to work?"   
  
Hein laughed, "But my plan is working! At this very moment the truck is heading back towards the factory and Giovanni will be able to destroy it!"   
  
Cake stared at Hein for a moment, "Why do you want to destroy it so bad? You're a bishy too."   
  
Nug blinked, "Well, maybe not a bishounen. But I agree that he is handsome."   
  
Keara was no longer paying attention to the conversation and had taken to hovering around Vincent, playing with his hair every now and then.   
  
"I don't want to be tackled by fan girls for the rest of existence, and many other bishounen feel the same way." Hein glared at the girls. "I was on a campaign of liberation!"   
  
"Since when are you such a tree-hugger?" Keara peered over at Hein from where she was standing next to Vincent.   
  
Sora was inspecting his Keyblade, "So, do we really have to stay here? I mean, I kinda wanna go back to the factory."   
  
Cloud looked down at the boy and rolled his eyes, "That's only because Riku is still there."   
  
"Is not!" Sora blushed hotly. "It's just weird here."   
  
"See what I mean?" Hein growled. "Even the boy knows that this kind of thing is wrong. He senses the evil in it."   
  
"No, it's not that." Sora closed one eye as he tried to pinpoint the words to describe the feeling. "There. . . aren't enough other bishounen here."   
  
"Huh?" Nug looked at the boy in confusion. This is…well about how many we usually have."   
  
Sora shivered.   
  
Vincent patted Sora's head, "You're young yet."   
  
/I've found you Bishounen Shop/   
  
Keara and Nug looked at each other and blinked. Then Keara grinned, and closed her eyes and tried to mentally respond, /What? Who are you?/   
  
"Legato. Legato Bluesummers." A voice lilted from the doorway.   
  
The group made a collective turn and found Legato leaning on the doorframe between the back room and the main shop smiling evilly. Kuja sauntered up next to him and crossed his arms with an angry pout.   
  
"Eee! Kuja!" Cake exclaimed gleefully and pounced on the silver-haired evil bishy.   
  
Kuja was ungracefully pulled to the floor where he lay in shock being huggled by Cake. Legato chuckled to himself at Kuja's misfortune, then ambled into the midst of the newly arrived bishounen and the shop owners. He crossed his arms and grinned at Hein who was feeling very overshadowed at the moment.   
  
"Thought you were clever, didn't you?" Legato said in a low voice. "I think I'm going to have to teach you a lesson about life, General Hein-"   
  
"NO!" Keara attacked Legato from behind. "No bloody messes! I don't want to clean this back room up again!"   
  
Legato's shoulders sagged with disappointment.   
  
Kuja had managed to detach himself from Cake with promises that she could braid his hair later, and he made his way to stand next to Legato where he pulled a palm sized metal object out of his jacket and presented it to Hein.   
  
Hein's eyes widened for a moment, "My tracking device." He glared at the pair. "How did you get it?"   
  
Legato shrugged, "Easy enough. Kuja flew up and scouted until he found the truck, then I stopped the driver and we opened up the back, took out the device and let the driver go on her merry way."   
  
"Oblivious of course," Kuja smiled mischievously and wrapped his arms around Legato's non-spiky arm.   
  
  
  
Soku leaned back into the beat up couch in the main shop area and sighed with relief, "I'm so glad that whole mess is over with. It was too much trouble even for the amusement it gave me."   
  
Legato glared at Soku from the recliner, "You didn't have to have Kuja and I locked up."   
  
"Oh you know you liked it," Keara teased from her spot behind the counter. "You and Kuja got to spend some time along together during your lovey period."   
  
"I'll have to admit that was fun," Kuja spoke up from his spot sitting in Legato's lap.   
  
"Don't move!" Cake admonished the evil bishy. "I'm trying to get this braid right."   
  
Kuja sighed and leaned back so that she could reach his hair again.   
  
Nug took a sip from a big ol' mug of coffee, "It's all mine again!"   
  
Keara nodded, "Yeah, too bad we had to send all those bishounen back though. Even if it was a lot of characters to keep track of."   
  
"I'd love to see Hein's face again when we shoved him into one of those bishounen boxes and shipped him off to Giovanni." Soku grinned evilly.   
  
"Yes. . ." Nug smiled and took anther gulp of coffee.   
  
"We have it on tape!" Teru perked up randomly from his side of the couch where Kashi was sleeping in his lap.   
  
Keara blinked.   
  
Teru gently moved Kashi off of him and made his way to the security monitor and began to rewind a random tape that was in the VCR. In a few moments he pressed play and an image of the back room from the previous night popped up on the screen.   
  
The scene was of Legato and Kuja gleefully stuffing General Hein into one of the Demo bishy boxes just as Teru and Kashi had wandered back into the break room. Every one on screen turned to look at the two newly arrived bishounen, whom Nug glomped gleefully glad they were still alive.   
  
"I can't believe we got captured so easily." Teru grumbled and slumped down in the couch cushions.   
  
Kashi snuggled up to Teru again, still sleeping and oblivious to the fact that he was even doing it.   
  
"Well," Nug sipped from her mug. "It's not like you and Kashi could do much against a horde of Team Rocket lackeys."   
  
Legato smiled, "Yes, you silly, powerless humans. You needed Kuja and I to come save you."   
  
"That was so much fun," Kuja giggled. "Decimating all those puny little Rockets. It's so nice to be needed."   
  
Teru glared at Kuja, "You could have done better at giving us directions. Instead of having you and Legato bursting in, killing everyone then running off again."   
  
Keara laughed, "Did you two really have to find your way back all alone?"   
  
"Well, Teru," Soku smiled slyly. "If it wasn't for me sneaking off for pizza all the time, they wouldn't even have been able to come rescue you."   
  
"Humph." Teru ignored Soku and petted Kashi's head.   
  
Cake stood triumphantly, "There! All done!"   
  
Kuja blinked then got off Legato's lap and made his way to the bathroom so that he could look at his hair in the mirror.   
  
Legato rested his chin on his hand as he regarded Kuja from his spot lounging in the recliner. "I didn't think it was possible for him to get any prettier."   
  
Cake grinned and crossed her arms. "I did good."   
  
"I wish the video had sound." Keara mused out loud.   
  
"Huh?" Nug looked over at Keara in confusion, then followed her gaze to the security monitor. "Ah."   
  
"Oh well," Teru shrugged. "I'm used to security tapes."   
  
"Hey, Kuja," Legato called from his chair. "Come back in here."   
  
"Hai," Kuja nodded and came back into the main room taking his place back on Legato's lap.   
  
"Riiiight," Nug looked around for a moment, then drank from her mug. Of course, it was the middle of the day, so she didn't NEED the coffee, it was just a novelty for her to have her own Nug fuel all to herself again.   
  
"Hey everyone!" A voice called happily from the front door, bell jingling merrily as well.   
  
"Doraku!" Nug cried happily and ran to glomp the golden tan bishounen. "We're so glad you're back from your sailing trip! You missed a lot!"   
  
Doraku laughed and put Nug back down. "Did I now? What happened?"   
  
His eyes fell then on the security monitor and he looked slightly fearfully over at Kuja and Legato who were on the recliner, Kuja who was having his hair done up in some other style by Cake.   
  
"This is Cake," Keara pointed at the blonde girl dressed in the Rocket uniform. "She was dwelling in our bathroom. Soku was hiding her in there."   
  
A few long moments passed, in which Kashi mumbled in his sleep something about cheese fries. Doraku placed his suitcase on the floor and slowly made his way to the counter where he took a gulp of Nug's coffee.   
  
"Ok, now explain it all to me."   
  
Nug picked up her mug and stared into its emptiness, "Mope . . . wait! I have more!" She bounded over to the coffee maker and poured herself a fresh cup.   
  
"Ok." Keara took a big breath and let it out slowly. "It started like this-"There!" Keara backed up and looked at her handiwork with happiness. "Now we won't have any more repeats of last week's problem."   
  
Nug nodded as she chugged the last of her coffee and set the mug down. "Let's just hope they don't start making a spectacle of themselves."   
  
Doraku blinked and nodded as Keara continued to tell the tale of Bishounen Shop part 2. Soon she ended and began part 3.   
  
"So, after that we began with- "It's getting better all the ti-i-ime, better all the time." Keara sang to herself as she leaned against the wall next to the truck-receiving door.   
  
Nug, per her usual, took a sip out of a big mug, and then made a face, "This isn't coffee!"   
  
Soku hid a smile of amusement, "No, it's tea. It's better for you."   
  
"If I wanted healthy Nug Fuel I'd put more sugar in my coffee!" She spazed then sighed. "I'm going to the café down the street. Be back in a few."   
  
Everyone stared at Keara in amazement at her ability to remember exactly what had been said, and when it had happened. By now Kashi had woken up and was also quickly engrossed in Keara's story telling.   
  
"And finally we came to- The night was pitch dark with only a few spots of stars to light the streets in the snow village of Yar. Clouds covered the usual over-abundance of bright dots in the sky, and the moon was New this night.   
  
However, despite the lateness of the hour, there were lights on in the newest shop on 42nd street. The sign above the window was off, but the lights inside reflected off the snow and cast a dim light on it…enough light to read "Shonen Shack".   
  
"I can't believe you named it that," General Hein's lip curled in disgust as he stared at one of the bishounen rental sheets."   
  
Silence descended after Keara finished the account of Bishounen shop 4; because after all there was no more to tell.   
  
Until next week that is. 


End file.
